How long is an ice hockey game?
B · Beginner · The game · 3 of 10A game is three periods of 20 minutes of actual play, with the clock stopped at each stoppage. Teams change ends every period and rest 15 minutes between periods. Each team gets one 30-second time-out a game. At championships, up to three television breaks are taken in each period.
How it works
- Periods: three of 20 minutes, starting with a face-off at centre ice.
- Ends: teams change ends each period.
- Intermissions: 15 minutes unless set otherwise; the ice is resurfaced.
- The clock: runs from the drop of the puck, stops at the whistle; shows tenths in the last minute.
- Time-out: one of 30 seconds per team, taken at a normal stoppage.
- No time-out: for the defending team after icing or a face-off violation, during a shootout or once a penalty shot is set.
- Commercial breaks: up to three per period, after 14, 10 and 6 minutes remain, with exceptions.
- After a goal: a 45-second goal break.
- Delays near period end: the referee may take the intermission early and finish the period after.
The glossary has the period, the time-out, the overtime, the faceoff, the icing and the team.
Tricky cases
A team ices the puck and wants a time-out to rest. Can it?
No. The defending team cannot take a time-out after icing.
Can both teams call a time-out at the same stoppage?
Only one time-out, television break or team, is allowed at any one stoppage.
Do the teams change ends for overtime?
Not in preliminary-round overtime. In gold medal games, they change ends from the second overtime period.
Does a goal in the last minute show tenths of a second?
On the clock, yes; for the records it is rounded up to the next second.
Why the rule exists
Stopping the clock means every game has exactly 60 minutes of play. The time-out gives a coach one chance to calm players or plan a late attack.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Game timing | 3 × 20 minutes | IIHF 77 |
| Time-outs | One each, 30 seconds | IIHF 87.1 |
| Commercial breaks | Three per period at championships | IIHF 87.2 |
From the rule book
International Ice Hockey Federation, Official Rulebook 2026/27 (version 1.0, June 2026), Rules 4, 34, 77, 86 and 87. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: the IIHF Official Rulebook, revised each season.